Miami Bound
by Jake456
Summary: Andrew is sent to Miami to live with his birth father.  Slash will be put in later
1. Prologue

Prologue 

Disclaimer: I don't own either the Buffy or the CSI: Miami series. 

Timeline: End of season 2 of Buffy and Season 3 of CSI: Miami. 

Vincent looked at Andrew as he eat his dinner quietly, he loved Andrew even if the boy wasn't his own but the problem was that Tucker hated Andrew and though to protect Andrew he had to pretend he hated Andrew, he never struck him but, god help him, Melody would kill him if she found out how he was treating Andrew, he made the choice for Andrew's own safety; he would have to be sent to his birth father.

Andrew ran upstairs into his room to prepare himself for bed, after all dad hated seeing him up after dinner and Tucker didn't want him around, he still didn't know why.

As Vincent watched Andrew run upstairs he sighed angrily, he saw the pleased look on Tucker's face and he was concerned about the eager look on Tucker's face, how had he failed two of his children? Andrew was being neglected and Tucker, well his own mother told him when Tucker was born he should've been put in the home.

Vincent walked up to his room, he looked at Tucker and said in what he hoped was his nastiest sounding voice, "Leave the little brat alone."

Tucker nodded, he looked at where his brother was and growled a bit; his father should've just tossed the bastard out on a street when Andrew's mom had died.

Vincent walked up to his study and heard Andrew sob a bit and he sighed; Andrew wasn't even his son, he wasn't a blood relation to any member of the Wells family but he still cared for him like his own. He picked out Melody's papers and he looked for anything about who Andrew's birth father was.

"Alright," he said to himself as he began to remember what she had told him: Andrew's father didn't know she was pregnant and she left before he found out. He was tracing her route as she headed westwards, as he was doing the math in his head, she would've to been given birth to Andrew before she came to Sunnydale, as he was looking at her path she had gone through several major cities and groaned as a headache hit him.

"This," he said to no one in particular, "Could take a while."

A couple of days later his private investigations were bearing fruit: Andrew was born in Nevada but Melody had only been there to visit her brother and from there she came to Sunnydale.

Meanwhile, as Vincent was doing his work, Andrew was being shoved into a garbage bag by the local bullies, he screamed as he was being moved around in the bag; there was nothing but rotten fruit and, oh god, rotten meat. He suddenly vomited, covering himself in his own vomit and he sighed, "Why me?"

Andrew listened to the voices outside talking about what to do with him: one guy wanted to toss him into a dumpster, another wanted to throw the bag into the courtyard but there was another voice, that sounded familiar, telling them to throw him into the pond.

Suddenly the bag was dropped, Andrew moaned in pain and he heard someone opening the bag and he looked at the concerned face of Principal Snyder.

"Mr Wells," Snyder sighed out, "Are you alright?"

Andrew nodded embarrassed and Snyder frowned, "I suppose you didn't see who did it this time either?"

"Nope," Andrew lied, "Not me, didn't see a thing," and looked at his feet; if he told then the bullying would get much worse."

Snyder grumbled as he escorted Andrew to the bathroom and helped him clean himself off and said, "Mr Wells, it's getting worse, this is the fifth time this week that I've had to pull you out of a locker or garbage bag."

Andrew turned red and dashed away, Snyder sighed; if it continued like this then he was sure that Mr Wells would be found dead soon and he muttered to himself, "And people wonder why I hate children."

As Andrew ran he crashed into the blonde girl who Tucker kept telling him that he was certain she was a slut by the way some of the guys at school told him.

"Oh, umm, sorry," Andrew muttered and got up, brushing himself off.

She smiled, "It's totally alright, I should've been watching where I was going," she suddenly sniffed the air and muttered, "Eww, are you alright?"

Andrew turned red and walked off when she pulled him back and said, "It's alright; let me help clean you up."

The girl pulled Andrew into a washroom, Andrew made a sound about being in the girl's bathroom but she tapped her foot and said, "Let me look."

As the girl got rid of the garbage he couldn't have reached and Snyder wouldn't have found either she crinkled her nose and said, "Jeez, do you take baths in garbage or something?"

"It's, umm, a joke people play on me," Andrew muttered, "It's in good fun."

She put her hands to her hips and said, "Joke huh? These kinds of jokes you can do without I think."

Andrew nodded slightly as she finished up on him, she muttered, "You still stink, you need to get a change of clothes," and waved bye to him, "Also, be careful."

As she left Andrew vaguely wondered who she was and walked home as his dad wanted him home right after school, as he ran home he saw Tucker going into a car and Andrew saw Grandpa Wells driving him away.

He sighed, Grandpa he liked but he wondered why he wasn't invited to visit but he walked into the house and it was quiet, dad wasn't home yet so he would have to wait and sighed, how long was dad going to be?

Andrew didn't wait too long for his dad to come in, he looked down at his feet and his father looked at him and sat down next to him.

"Hey Andrew," Vincent said as he patted Andrew's back.

"What's up dad?" Andrew whispered.

"Alright Andrew," Vincent said, "First of all I want you to listen to me: you aren't my son, you never were," Andrew's face fell and Vincent saw the tears forming, he rushed over and hugged Andrew, stroking his hair.

"Don't cry Andrew; please don't cry," Vincent said quietly, "It's going to be alright."

"But," Andrew wailed, "I have to be your son, I mean we look…"

"Nothing like each other," Vincent said, "And, before you ask, Tucker's not your brother either, he's my son from a previous marriage."

"Now Andrew you were only two years old when you and your mother came to Sunnydale but you might be too young to remember that of course," Vincent smiled at the memories of Andrew when he was so young.

"But dad," Andrew said still upset, "Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because I'm sending you to live with your father," Vincent said, "This town isn't good for you and also I might mention that Tucker hates you or is obsessed with you, can't really tell with him anymore and as such you aren't safe in the house anymore and I can't protect you forever."

Andrew made a face and Vincent whispered, "Andrew, I love you like my own and I wouldn't send you to a stranger I know nothing about, I've talked to him; he was naturally very suspicious about my news and he's willing to take you in but you are going to have to go through some blood tests."

"He doesn't believe you Dad," Andrew murmured, "Why wouldn't he believe you?"

Vincent chuckled, "Andrew, do you really have to ask about that?" Andrew looked puzzled and Vincent laughed gently, "Andrew, he had no knowledge of you and fifteen years later someone out of the blue comes and tells him he has a child."

"Oh," Andrew muttered, feeling stupid for thinking that.

"Now you are going to go tomorrow morning as I'm going to drive you to LA, "Vincent said, "And then you get to go onto a plane, now get upstairs and start to pack, alright?"

Andrew ran upstairs to start packing, he didn't want his dad to see him cry and Vincent put his head into his hands and sighed, "Melody, god forgive me, I have no idea why you wanted to keep Andrew from this guy but this is the only thing I can do."

He heard Andrew throwing things into his bags and sighed; Andrew was sad and a bit angry about having to move away.

Vincent got up and walked into his den, he looked at some of the photo albums of Andrew as a baby and as a little boy and decided that he would have Andrew take these to his father; it was going to be a very early morning for both of them.

As he headed upstairs he saw Andrew still packing and he walked in and patted Andrew on the back, Andrew looked at him and suddenly looked away, still upset. He pulled Andrew into a hug, "I'm sorry Andrew, I have to do this to keep you safe."

Andrew sighed as he felt his father's arms go around him soothing him; it reminded him of the better times when his mom was still alive.

"It's going to be alright," Vincent promised as he let go, "Your father is going to love you, I promise you. Now, time for bed."

Vincent went to bed soon after he made sure Andrew was asleep and he slept peacefully knowing that he was doing the right thing for his son and wished desperately that Andrew would be better off.

The next morning Andrew woke up yawning, he saw his bags packed and frowned, he had thought that was goddamned nightmare but it wasn't; his father or at least the man he thought was his father was sending him away.

"Come on Andrew," Vincent yelled, "We gotta get going," as he got in he saw Andrew dressing and started to take some of his bags.

As Andrew tossed things into the car he saw the girl who helped him clean out the garbage and the smell, he waved at her and yelled, "Hi."

She looked distracted but when she heard the hello she looked behind and saw the kid from yesterday waving at her, she walked over carrying her backpack full of clothes.

Andrew smiled and said, "I didn't thank you for helping me yesterday."

"Oh, totally alright," she said, "At least you smell better now."

"Yeah, just had to clean myself off," Andrew said with a large smile when he noticed something wrong with her, "Are you alright?"

She shook her head and said, "No, I'm not."

Before Andrew could say anything Vincent walked out and said, "Andrew, get in the car, we have to get to LA before rush hour hits," he looked at the girl and frowned at the look she had on her face; she was running away from something.

"You guys are heading LA? Cool," she whispered, "I'll see you around."

Vincent looked at her and said, "Do you want a ride?"

"Yes, I guess I could use a ride," she said as she got in the back.

They drove out of Sunnydale and Vincent tried to get her to speak about what was bothering her and she wasn't talking too much about where she was going.

"By the way I'm Andrew and again, thank you for helping me clean up."

Vincent frowned, 'Clean up?' but knew there was probably a reason why Andrew came in smelling like rotting garbage so his moving was going to help anyways. He looked at the girl and said, "So lil miss, do you have a name?"

"Oh yeah it's Buffy, sorry for being silent girl, I had a real bad night."

"Well I can drop you off anywhere in LA you want to go to, after I drop Andrew off, if you want?"

"Thanks Mr Wells," Buffy said, "That's really nice of you."

Vincent sighed as she went quiet, he had no idea what she was running from but he had an idea that something bad happened to her.

As they got into LA Vincent looked at his watch and said, "We got two hours before Andrew's plane leaves."

"Oh, umm, where's he going?" Buffy asked, just a bit curious.

"To Miami, that's where his birth father lives," Vincent said, "He's going to be living there."

Andrew frowned a bit, 'Miami? That's where my birth father lives?' he sighed, he didn't even know the guy and he was supposed to live with him?

Buffy looked at Andrew and smiled, "Miami sounds cool Andrew, I mean really; beaches and everything."

"But I'm going alone," Andrew said, "I don't even know my birth father and dad's never met him before either, how do we know he's sane or even a nice guy?"

'Yeah, that's gotta be tough,' Buffy thought, 'Poor kid, being sent alone to a place he probably never even visited and to a father who could be a total jerk.'

"Now Andrew, he seemed perfectly nice to me," Vincent said shaking his head and looked at Andrew, "Please be good for him, he did seem to want to meet you."

Andrew nodded and looked at his feet, Buffy looked at him and said, "Andrew, Miami's beautiful and maybe your birth father won't be a bastard."

Vincent chuckled softly and smiled at the girl, as they pulled into the parking lot he looked at Buffy and said, "You want to join me and Andrew for breakfast?"

She smiled and nodded and helped Andrew with his luggage, Vincent stared a bit and thought, 'Strong girl, _really_ strong girl,' and they walked into the airport. Vincent got Andrew his ticket and they made sure his luggage was checked in and he took them up to the restaurant.

"You kids order what you want," Vincent said, "I'm going to make a call to a friend here in LA."

Buffy ordered waffles and strawberries while Andrew ordered pancakes and blueberries, as they were waiting for their food Andrew was trying to get Buffy to talk about why she was running away but she didn't want to talk to him about it, she was telling him about Miami and what was good about the city.

Vincent walked back in and saw them talking and sat down, he looked at Buffy and said, "Okay lil miss, after Andrew gets on the plane I can take you anywhere you need to go, I got some friends and if you want they can help you with a job and maybe a place to stay?"

She smiled and asked, "Mr Wells, why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because you remind me of my little sister," Vincent muttered, "She ran away and she was around your age and we never found her, so if you need someone to take you home you call me, alright?"

They chatted for a bit more and when Andrew's plane was called Vincent looked at Andrew and said, "Remember: be good for your father, alright? Here's his name and he gave me a picture so you would recognize him."

Buffy looked at Andrew again and almost wished she could be going across the country with him, just anything to get further away from Sunnydale.

Andrew waved good bye and walked onto the airplane, he was terrified, 'What if this Horatio Caine didn't like me?' he thought, 'Or what if he was some sort of murderer?'

He barely listened to the flight attendant's speech about safety as he was already buckled up safely, he listened to the airplane's engines turning on and he felt it move, he picked a book and began to read. He was trying to ignore the fact that he was going to live with a man who he had not been in contact with.

As the plane flew through the air he wondered vaguely if he was going to have to change his last name to Caine or what was the deal with that? He supposed he would find out when the plane got there, he just hoped the guy was at least pleasant.

Several hours later Andrew was shaken awake by the pilot telling the passengers that that they were going to be landing in fifteen minutes. He rubbed his eyes and looked out the window; he saw the afternoon sun shining over Miami's building and he thought it was beautiful, he got his things ready and sighed.

The plane landed and Andrew groaned, he was going to be so miserable here; no friends and probably a new school. As he left the plane he gulped nervously. He looked at the picture the man sent, 'Okay, so a suit, sunglasses and reddish hair,' he looked around and sighed, there wasn't anyone here that looked like that.

He sat down and began to think about what was he going to do, he wondered if Mr Caine had a phone number or something like that?

Andrew wasn't aware of the man staring at him intently, Horatio looked over his supposed son; there was a slight resemblance so he decided to go introduce himself.

"Excuse me," Horatio said, "Andrew Wells, right?"

At almost breakneck speed Andrew snapped his head back and nodded, he said, "Oh, you're Mr Caine?"

"Yes, I am Horatio Caine."

Both of them regarded each other a bit, Horatio gestured towards him and said, "Come on son, let's get your things and then we can talk." 

TBC 

A/N: I mentioned that Andrew's mom has a brother in Las Vegas, Who do you think he should be? If he is important. How will Horatio react to having a son? Any slash pairings with Andrew will be welcomed.

Buffy will be back later on in the story. 

Please rate and review.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Same as previous chapter. 

Chapter 1 

Andrew looked at Mr Caine, the guy was kind of scaring him, 'He didn't say anything to me at all, he seems almost cross.'

Horatio looked at Andrew uncomfortably, 'He does look a bit like me, there was no denying it,' he breathed in deeply and said, "So, would you like to tell me a bit about yourself?"

"Umm," Andrew muttered, "I'm fifteen, I guess you know that and, umm, not sure what else to tell you," and looked away.

'So,' Horatio thought, 'I should get these blood tests out of the way first, that way I can find out if he is indeed my son and maybe find out why his mother saw fit to hide him from me and then see if I can form some sort of bond with him.'

As they drove in uncomfortable silence Andrew looked outside and yawned, this place was so big and more than a little scary to someone who had never been out of California before, at least as far as he knew.

"Umm, Mr Caine, where are we going?" Andrew asked getting a bit nervous.

"We are heading to where I work, if they aren't busy they can perform the tests on us," Horatio said as he looked at Andrew.

"Oh cool, where do you work? Is it a medical lab of some sort?" Andrew asked, "I mean they could do that but that's all I can think of."

"No, I work in a forensic lab; we handle the evidence for the police," Horatio said with a slight smile.

'Hmm, sounds kind of interesting,' Andrew thought as the car went quiet except for Horatio's choice of music, it was fairly uncomfortable. He looked at Horatio and muttered, "I'm sorry if me being here is bad for you."

Horatio shook his head, "No, you were a surprise, that's all. I'm just wondering why your step father sent you to me, a man he hardly knows."

"Well he told me his son, Tucker, who I thought was my brother, hated me and/or was obsessed with me, they can't tell anymore and he didn't want me to get hurt or something like that."

"Would this Tucker guy hurt you?" Horatio asked puzzled.

"Umm, I get bullied a lot," Andrew grumbled, "One of their more favourite things was to throw me into a big garbage bag, preferably full of rotting food, and shake it up really good but anyways this last time, as the bag was being closed, they were debating where to throw me this time and I thought I heard Tucker's voice saying to throw me into the river but I could be wrong too as there was rotting meat in my ears."

Horatio made a bit of a face at Andrew's story and decided that he would verify it himself.

As they began to talk about other things, trying to avoid the fact that they were going for a blood test to see if they were indeed related.

Andrew saw a building and he realized that it was where Mr Caine worked, 'It looks alright,' he thought as they got out of the car. He held a couple of books as he didn't want to be bored while Mr Caine did whatever he did here.

He followed Horatio into the lab and when he was asked to sit down he sat down, 'This place smelled a bit like a hospital,' he assumed that they would have to keep it sterile here too.

Andrew waited for a couple of minutes when a blonde woman came in; she flashed a bright smile and say, "Hi, Horatio asked me to get a sample from you."

"Oh," Andrew muttered as he rolled his arm up.

"No," she laughed, "You don't need to do that, open your mouth."

Andrew looked confused and opened his mouth; she brought a cotton swab out and rubbed the inside of his mouth. He looked at her and she smiled again, "We don't need blood."

As Calleigh walked outside she looked at Horatio, "This will take a couple of hours."

Horatio nodded and walked in, he sat down next to Andrew, who was reading some books. Andrew looked up and smiled slightly, "At least I didn't have to get a needle, I hate those."

Andrew looked at Horatio, who smiled slightly at what he said and Andrew pulled a letter out for him and said, "Umm, I was supposed to give this to you."

"Okay," Horatio opened the letter and began to read:

_Mr Caine. _

_I know we talked on the phone for a bit but I should let you know that Andrew has been neglected and this is no one's fault but my own. My boy, Tucker, has mental issues which made it impossible for me to show any type of affection for Andrew. _

Horatio frowned as he looked at Andrew as he continued to read the letter.

_My wife's past before coming to Sunnydale is fragmented; at best I was able to track you down as the father because that's what it said on Andrew's birth certificate. If it's not true then I am sorry and enclosed inside is money for him to go Las Vegas as that's where his uncle Jim Brass lives. I truly have no idea why Melody didn't want you to know anything about Andrew, as I said she was very secretive about her past. Perhaps you two can figure it out together, please take care of him. _

_Vincent R Wells _

'Jim Brass?' Horatio thought to himself, 'Interesting.'

As he looked at Andrew he began to remember vaguely a Melody; she was working at diner that he and Ray used to frequent and they did have a relationship, however brief it was. He remembered her being there one night and gone the next morning.

Andrew looked back at Horatio and cocked his eyebrow slightly, 'Why is he looking at me like that?'

Horatio looked at Andrew and said, "Do you have pictures of your mother?"

"Umm yeah," Andrew said, "In one of the suitcases, dad wanted you to have pictures of me and her mostly, just stuff when I was little."

"Would it be alright if I looked at one of them?" Horatio asked, "I need to check on something."

"Okay," Andrew nodded and watched Horatio walk out but he was still a bit confused by what was going on.

Horatio ran out to the SUV to look for the one of the pictures and saw a couple of photo albums in the biggest suitcase, he pulled it out and walked back in ignoring the looks he was getting and walked in where Andrew was sitting.

He opened one of them and saw a picture of Melody holding what he assumed was Andrew as a baby close to her and it was her: Melody. He looked at Andrew and realized there was now a very good chance that he was his son.

Andrew looked at the picture and said, "That's when I was born, I think the rest of the pictures are of me doing various things that me and mom did before she died."

"Oh?" Horatio said, "How did she die?"

"Umm, it was a rare type of cancer," Andrew said, "Not really sure but I remember the doctors saying that it could be genetic, so they did a lot of blood tests on me to make sure too and it turned out that I wasn't going to catch it."

After awhile Andrew sat there waiting, he was getting hungry but Horatio had to do work too and he supposed he could be patient as it looked like his dad's work was important and as he looked at Horatio it seemed weird but he was his dad he assumed.

He listened to Horatio deal with suspects while he waited in the office; sometimes Horatio would come in looking upset or even close to angry. Horatio came in and saw Andrew still patiently waiting and realized that he might be hungry and said, "Umm, Andrew, are you hungry?"

"Umm, yeah," Andrew said, "But I didn't want to bother you because you looked busy."

"I am busy but we can still get some lunch or something, if you want that is?" Horatio asked.

"Maybe later," Andrew said as he buried himself into the book he was reading and felt Horatio's eyes still on him.

"Alright," Horatio said as he left, "But if you need anything let me know."

Andrew nodded and sighed as he closed his eyes and fell into a light sleep, he was still asleep when Calleigh came in. She saw him sleeping on the chair and smiled slightly as she put the results on Horatio's desk.

A couple of hours later Andrew woke up, he wiped his eyes clear and looked around, he suddenly remembered where he was and sighed.

Horatio came back in from the field after he had been informed that his test results came back in and he saw Andrew looking at him.

"Now we shall see Andrew," Horatio said after he took the envelope as and opened it up; reminding himself that he would be able to send Andrew to Las Vegas if worse came to worse.

He opened it and read the results, 'It's true,' he thought, 'Andrew Wells is my son.' He looked at Andrew and told him to come to him, "Andrew, you are my son."

Andrew looked at him puzzled and Horatio smiled slightly and said, "You're my son."

"Umm, yay?" Andrew said confused, "So what happens now?"

Horatio froze, he needed a plan as he honestly had no idea what do now, he had the room for Andrew and he did help raise Ray Jr but this was different as Andrew was fifteen and as he looked at Andrew he decided he could do this.

"We go home and learn about each other Andrew," Horatio said with certainty in his voice.

"Alright Mr Caine," Andrew said quietly, noticing the look and Andrew muttered, "Sorry, I don't know if I can call you dad just yet."

Horatio nodded and said, "My shift's over and I still have to get you settled in, don't I? And maybe you can meet your cousin soon."

As they walked out to the SUV Andrew wondered what his other father was doing in Sunnydale and if Tucker even cared he was gone? And, hopefully, that girl was alright too. His dad was right, she was upset about things.

Andrew got into the vehicle and Horatio started to tell him about his family and suddenly realized that he would have to find a good school for Andrew but he could talk to Yelina about that, she told him that Ray Jr's school seemed good but he wasn't in the same district.

'This place seems nice,' and as Andrew looked at Horatio, 'He seemed nice too, maybe I could make a new life here,' Andrew thought.

"So," Horatio said, "Do you have any allergies?"

"Yeah, I can't have hazelnuts," Andrew said, "If I do I die."

Horatio nodded, "Very well Andrew, I think tonight we'll try to find out more about each other."

"Alright," Andrew said quietly, he wasn't sure if he could call this guy dad or not, it still didn't seem right to call him dad.

As they got to the place Andrew looked at it and thought, 'It seems to be a nice place.'

Andrew pulled his suitcases out and Horatio looked at him at him and said, "Need help?"

"Yeah," Andrew muttered as Horatio grabbed one of the suitcases and they walked into the house, Andrew looked around, 'Looks alright,' he thought as he followed Horatio upstairs.

"This will be your room Andrew," Horatio said, "It was the guest room but now it's your room, get settled in and we'll discuss what will be happening with you."

Before Horatio left Andrew sighed, it was hard. He looked at Horatio and said, "Thank you dad, for letting me stay here."

Horatio didn't say anything and Andrew didn't notice the slight smile on his face as he started to unpack his bags. 

TBC 

Poll question: How should Buffy get to Miami? Should she have relatives in Miami or should Vincent take her down there if things in Sunnydale didn't work out for her? 

Please rate and review.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters. 

Chapter 3 

The next few weeks for Andrew and Horatio were tough as they learned about each other and Andrew learned pretty quickly about Horatio and Horatio learned about Andrew, they were able to find a school that was close by and it seemed nice.

One day soon after he enrolled at the school Andrew's principal called Horatio in and said, "Mr Caine, Andrew is a delight to teach but we feel he could do a lot better, a good deal better."

"What do you mean?" Horatio asked, "Is he not doing well?"

"No, Andrew is doing average and that's just it, we believe that he can do so much better and he does about average," the Principal said, "I've talked to my colleague in Sunnydale and he told me that Andrew was offered several advanced courses but he refused to go."

'That is a problem,' Horatio thought as he looked at the sudden decline in grades, he wondered why Andrew would hide such an obvious gift.

"Now," the Principal said, "We are going to offer him the advanced courses here and I want you to consider them."

Horatio had read Andrew's school records and was impressed, from what he had seen Andrew was offered some advanced classes but he refused the offer. He looked at Andrew and pointed it out to him.

"Oh, umm," Andrew said, "It's just math and science, it's not much and I, umm, didn't want to leave my friends."

"It's impressive Andrew," Horatio said as he sat down next to him, "Because it means you have a gift and it should be explored and I might mention that you wouldn't have left your friends, you could still see them if you wanted, so please tell me the truth."

Andrew looked uneasy, "Tucker told me if I went to the classes then I would be beaten up a lot more because I was an even bigger nerd than before."

Horatio frowned, 'He held himself back because his brother told him those lies?' But he wasn't going to let Andrew hold back anymore.

"You are going to go the classes they suggest for you here," Horatio said, "Don't hold yourself back, no one will beat you up."

Andrew cocked his head, trying to figure out if his dad was lying about this but he supposed he should do what his dad suggested, "Alright," he said, "If they want me to go to those classes then I will."

Horatio sighed, he was getting very attached to Andrew over these few months and he was almost happier than he had been in a while being a dad and Yelina and Ray Jr. didn't mind him too much either.

"So," Horatio said, "We're going to dinner at Yelina's place tonight, she wanted you to get closer to your cousin Ray."

Andrew nodded, "Yes dad," still surprised on how easy it was getting for him to call Horatio, 'dad.'

That night after dinner Andrew and Ray Jr. were talking, Ray was talking about his dad to which Andrew listened eagerly as he wanted to hear about his uncle, he didn't know much about Uncle Ray and his dad didn't like talking about it.

Yelina looked at Horatio and said, "Andrew's a good kid, so did you ever figure why his mama never told you about him?"

"No, we haven't figured out why she kept him from me," Horatio said while looking at Andrew, "And it's hard with those pictures he showed me, Vincent Wells did everything that I should've done with him, like teaching him to ride a bicycle, I've missed so much in his life."

"Well he gets along with Ray pretty well, doesn't he?" Yelina smiled, "And doesn't he have friends at school?"

"Some, I think," Horatio said, "And speaking of which; he's being offered advanced placement courses in school and he's going to take them when they ask again."

"Oh, that's great, I hope he does well in them," Yelina smiled, "But tell me, is he getting close to you?"

Horatio sighed, "It's a uphill battle: he calls me dad but sometimes he looks at me like he's still unsure about me raising him and he nearly calls me Mr Caine at times."

Yelina smiled, "He's been with you what, six weeks? Give him time, he is starting to see you as his father."

"Yes, we're getting there and I'm getting used to having him around," Horatio smiled slightly.

Andrew frowned at what Ray Jr. was talking about: his uncle was a dirty cop? Is that why dad didn't like talking about it? While he wouldn't press if it was too difficult.

After they left Horatio smiled and said, "So, what did you and Ray talk about today?"

"Umm, Uncle Ray," Andrew muttered guiltily, "I don't know too much about him."

"Oh," Horatio said, "If you want I'll explain everything about your Uncle Raymond."

"Not if it's too painful," Andrew said holding his hands up, "I mean it must have been hard if he was accused of being a dirty cop, especially for you."

"I was told one day that I'd be cleaning up Raymond's messes all my life," Horatio said sadly, "And so far it's been the truth."

"He's your brother," Andrew said, "Grandma Wells always said 'You look out for family no matter what' but of course, at the end Grandma Wells drank quite a bit."

Horatio chuckled softly and said, "It seems that Grandma Wells has some common sense."

Andrew nodded, he was starting to like his birth father a lot, he was so cool as he helped people, he wished he could help people like that; catch criminals using what they did with technology.

As they drove home Horatio looked at Andrew and sighed, 'He was my son, why would Melody keep this from me? I would've taken care of Andrew; of course maybe she didn't want to get involved with a cop. It wasn't an easy life but some cops and their wives got used to it.'

"When did your mom die Andrew?" Horatio asked curious.

"Oh, mom died when I was eleven," Andrew said remembering when she died, "It wasn't a good time for me during the funeral."

Horatio nodded, he could relate to that, he supposed he would have to tell Andrew about what his grandfather did sooner or later.

"You know I lost my mom too," Horatio said, "She was killed by my father."

Andrew looked at Horatio wide eyed and nearly yelled, "Really?"

"Yes," Horatio nodded, "I was young when she was killed."

'Wow,' Andrew thought, 'Grandpa killed Grandma?' He looked at his father and wondered if he could use a hug every now and then, after all mom liked hugs and so did Vincent before mom died.

As they got out Andrew suddenly hugged Horatio, surprising him. Andrew muttered, "Sorry, I like hugs a lot, especially with family."

Horatio returned the hug and smiled softly, "Just not at work, alright?"

Andrew nodded and Horatio realized, 'He's beginning to think of me as family,' that caused a smile to form, maybe they would work out.

Meanwhile in LA, Buffy was working at the place that Vincent helped her get. She found herself liking the older man: he was caring and really kind to people, he would show up every now and then to make sure she was doing alright, things were looking up for him too: he had managed to get Tucker to see a psychologist and hopefully that would work out for both of them for Vincent told her that he needed help and he couldn't help him.

She was getting ready to pick up her check for the day when she saw the truck he drove usually stopped outside of the café, Buffy waved bye to some of the other waitresses she was friendly with.

After she finished work for the day Vincent came by and said, "Hey lil miss how was work today?"

Buffy made a fake frown at the nickname and said, "You know my name's Buffy so why do you call me that?"

"Not sure," Vincent said with a smile, "But anyways I was thinking: I know Sunnydale's a bad place for you but would you be willing to consider coming back with me?"

"Oh, umm," Buffy said looking at her feet, "I'm not sure about that."

Vincent smiled and nodded, "But Buffy I'm betting your mom misses you or maybe your father, you could see him right? And I can come with you, if you want me for moral support, does that sound alright?"

'It did seem alright,' Buffy thought to herself, 'Vincent was really supportive, though he had no idea why mom kicked me out.'

"Let's just say I didn't leave, mom told me that if I left the house I wouldn't be welcome back," Buffy said almost sobbing.

"Now that sounds like something said in a moment of anger," Vincent said with a sigh, "No parent could hate their child that much."

"Really?" Buffy said, "I mean she was really angry when I left."

"Then we will go together Buffy," Vincent said, "And if you don't feel comfortable then you can come back with me, does that feel alright to you?"

"Umm, what if she gets mad at me?" Buffy said a bit nervously, "And I mean I did kind of leave under bad circumstances."

"Then let her get mad Buffy," Vincent said, "Its best if you get the negative emotions out of the way first but if it gets too heated then I can definitely take you back to LA."

Buffy smiled a bit and suddenly thought of something, "Have you heard from Andrew? I mean it's been six weeks and you haven't talked to him."

"Every now and then his father called to let me know, he got down there safely and he called me today about getting into some advanced placement courses and how he was going to do it this time," Vincent said.

They talked for a bit and Buffy said, "Umm Vincent, let's do it; I'll go to Sunnydale with you, if you still want me to come back still?"

Vincent broke into a large smile and said, "Lil miss, then let's pack and get you home and remember what I said: if it gets to hot for you I'll take you back here if you want."

Buffy nodded and said, "Yeah, can't hide forever, right?"

Vincent nodded. 

TBC 

A/N: Buffy will be going to Miami soon and Vincent will take her but how will Joyce take to having a stranger bringing her back? 

Please rate and review.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters. 

Chapter 3 

Vincent looked at the small group of people who had gathered at Ms Summer's house when he had called her about bringing Buffy back, they stared at him suspiciously and he was more than a bit nervous.

Buffy sat close to him, she was uneasy about this too.

"Mrs Summers, I believe," Vincent said, "This was supposed to be just between you, me and your daughter, don't know why these kids and this man are here."

They looked a bit insulted about being called kids but they watched him more curiously than anything.

"Alright," Joyce said, "Mr Wells, I'm happy that you brought Buffy home but we need to talk to her, alone."

"No, right now there is a lot of tension," Vincent said, "And I'll mention that I am trained therapist and I'll be acting as a buffer; if someone says the wrong thing you all will be back at square one, all those sore and nasty feelings poisoning you all more than they should be."

Giles sighed and said, "Buffy, are you at least alright? You were gone for several weeks."

"Oh yeah, Mr Wells helped me," Buffy said with a smile, "One of his friends found me a job and a place to live and Mr Wells came by to make sure I was alright."

Vincent watched the body language her friends were still showing, it seemed to relax a bit but they were all bothered by something.

Joyce sighed, "Buffy, I'm happy that your back but there is things we have to talk about and I'm not sure Mr Wells needs to know about."

"Now ma'am what is it that you don't think I need to know about?" Vincent said with a smile, "Because odds are that I already know about the vampires or the other critters that move about here?"

They all stared in shock and Vincent smiled, "First of all, not every adult here is totally clueless, there aren't many of us and we protect our children any we can. I made sure Andrew and Tucker had strict curfews."

"You know about the Vampires and demons?" Giles said with curiosity, "How?"

"I'm a family therapist," Vincent said, "I've had parents tell me about their children who've went missing or children who have a parent who has died in what I believe is a 'barbeque fork accident' and told me that their parent was at the door trying to get in, now we'd have to be really stupid not to catch on to that."

Buffy smiled a bit at Vincent's explanation about things and it did make sense that other adults would know about these things.

"So," Joyce growled, "Why don't you warn people about them?"

"Because first," Vincent said, "Not a single soul would believe us and second, what do you suggest we do; put a sign up warning about vampires and demons? That'd just draw in people looking for the next new tourist trap."

They all stared at Vincent a bit and he said, "Since this is all a little tense," he looked at Buffy, "Lil miss, you want to stay at a hotel tonight? We can handle this tomorrow," and he looked at Joyce and added, "Just you, me and Buffy and the other man, the kids don't need to be there."

Joyce was about to say something when Buffy nodded and they left; Giles followed them out and said, "Mr Wells, Buffy is far too young for whatever you're planning."

"So, if an older man shows some compassion for a younger woman it has to be about sex?" Vincent said with smirk.

Giles stammered out a denial when Vincent held his hands up and said, "Sir, I'm kidding, I wouldn't touch a child like that, trust me. I've treated too many kids because of that kind of treatment."

'Dear lord!' Giles thought and said, "Buffy can stay with me, I'd like to make sure she's alright, if she wants."

Vincent nodded, "I trust you on that, after all Andrew always liked you and for the most part he has good judgement."

Buffy hugged Vincent and said, "See you tomorrow Mr Wells."

As he got into his truck he noticed the older man looking at him, Vincent shook his head and thought, 'These kids need to learn how to trust and open up,' he would look into getting into a nice therapy session but not with him as they don't like him .

Giles looked at Buffy and said, "Please Buffy was he good to you?"

"Yes," Buffy said rolling her eyes, "He was beyond nice, and he kept telling me that I reminded him of his sister so I doubt he's harbouring secret lusty thoughts for me."

"He does seem to have a great deal of common sense," Giles nodded, "And he does care about you."

The next day Vincent woke up to Tucker telling him that he had a caller, he sighed as he picked the phone up, "Vincent Wells," and smiled as he heard Buffy give him the directions to this Mr Giles's place.

"Dad," Tucker growled, "Why do you care so much about the girl?"

"Because she reminds me of your Aunt," Vincent said, "And you have a session today, don't you forget that."

Tucker nodded, walking off.

Vincent got into his truck and said, "Tucker, I'll know if you miss your session," and he drove to meet Buffy and Giles.

Giles was preparing some breakfast for everyone, he had no idea what Mr Wells would like to drink but he supposed that coffee would suffice when he heard a knock on the door, he opened it and saw Mr Wells smiling at him."

"Oh, umm, good morning," Giles said, "Please come in, Joyce hasn't come yet."

"Morning yourself," Vincent said happily, "And that's alright, I don't think she likes me that much."

"I am quite sure that isn't true but anyways, thank you for looking after her," Giles said, "Truly I am grateful for that."

As they drank coffee and talked Vincent noted that these two had a good relationship from the way they reacted around each other, he heard someone knock on the door and saw Giles answer the door and saw Joyce come in.

She looked at Vincent; she nodded and decided to ask, "Can I ask why you didn't want Buffy's friends here?"

"One, because they seem attached to you too ma'am and if this got down to a shouting match I'd rather not them being forced to choose between you and Buffy," Vincent said, "Too much bad blood in my mind."

"But," Joyce said, "They just were concerned about Buffy, she was gone for more than six weeks."

"Yeah," Vincent said, "But anyways, I'd like to know why they seemed so hostile? The tension last night was quite thick."

Giles sighed, 'I suppose we could trust him,' he looked at Buffy and she nodded and they began to explain what Buffy was. Vincent looked disbelieving at first but nodded when Buffy showed how strong she was.

"So, she's this mystical warrior and she loved this vampire who was supposedly good?" Vincent said, "And somehow she helped this guy lose his soul? Then this, Angelus is it? And then he did all sorts of bad crap before you had to stop him?"

Joyce nodded and Vincent shrugged, "Not the worse I've heard before in a session honestly but the point is not to place any blame, but tell me what happened that night?"

They both gave versions of their stories and Vincent nodded and said, "So ma'am, you told her that she had to leave because she was going to save this man here?"

"Now you tell me what happened, Buffy? What happened when you confronted this Angelus fella?"

Buffy recounted her story and Giles froze, 'His soul was returned and she still did it anyways! Dear lord, no wonder why she was devastated.

Vincent shook his head and said to Joyce, "Ma'am, can I talk to you in private?" and they walked outside and began to talk.

Buffy and Giles talked to each other about what they were going to do when Vincent came in with Joyce and said, "Good news."

Joyce hugged Buffy and said, "I'm so sorry about what happened that night Buffy but I've been talking to Mr Wells here and I agree, I think you need to be with your father for a bit."

"In Spain?" Buffy yelled, "I get to go to Spain?" And grinned broadly.

"No, your father is moving to Miami and I'll talk to him tonight, I'll leave out the reason why he needs to take you in and besides, he's been wanting to have you stay with him," Joyce said.

"Umm, what about the others?" Buffy said, "I mean they need help if they're fighting evil."

"Now," Vincent said, "I believe that Mr Giles will be able to train them if they need to and besides it'll be temporary, I think both ladies both need some time apart from each other." 

TBC 

A/N: What do you think of this reason of Buffy moving to Miami if for a little bit? And also Faith will be in Miami for a bit and also I'll have the Mayor being handled another way so that thing is out of the way and how will the scoobies take the move? Was that a good way to end the confrontation between Buffy and her mom? 

Please rate and review.


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters. 

Chapter 4 

Buffy was packing up, she was happy that her mom was allowing her go to Miami to stay with her dad, maybe she could bond with him again.

She saw Vincent outside waiting for her and she smiled, "Hey Vincent how's things?"

"Good, Tucker's going to see his aunt and I want to know if you want some company to Miami? I was going to see Andrew," Vincent asked.

"Sure," Buffy said eagerly, "Didn't want to go on that long plane ride there alone anyways."

"Perfect," Vincent said, "I let Andrew know that I'm coming over for a visit last night."

Joyce was packing the clothes that Buffy was going to need, she wasn't happy but she agreed that this was the best thing for them both.

Vincent looked at Buffy and said, "Did you tell your friends that you were going to Miami?"

"Umm, yeah," Buffy said, "They weren't…"

"Happy with it, right?" Vincent asked.

"Not at all," Buffy said, "But I told them that it was going to be a temporary thing and that made them happy, a bit I think and I'm sure they will be calling me constantly to talk."

Meanwhile in Miami Andrew was excited that his other dad was coming for a visit but he didn't want Mr Caine to be hurt by the fact that he was so happy by this.

Horatio was concerned, he wanted to talk to Mr Wells about his child, Tucker but he also didn't want to insult the man if he knew the problem that Tucker had plus he didn't want to destroy his fragile bond with Andrew.

On the day he was supposed to come to Miami Andrew could hardly sleep even though his dad told him too, he yawned as they drove down to the Airport.

"Andrew, I told you to get some sleep last night," Horatio chided, "But I guess I can understand why you're so happy; he's your father."

"No dad, you're my father and so is he and I do care for you both," Andrew said looking down at his feet.

"I want to meet him too Andrew," Horatio smiled slightly; "After all he helped raise you and took care of you after your mom died."

Andrew nodded and went to sleep, Horatio sighed and patted Andrew's shoulder and he smiled as Andrew backed up into his touch.

"Come on Andrew, wake up, we're here," Horatio said shaking him.

Andrew woke up instantly, he was going to see his father and he got a bit nervous at how his dads were going to take to each other.

They didn't wait too long when Vincent walked in and said, "Hey Andrew."

Andrew rushed over and hugged him tightly and Vincent looked at Horatio and frowned at the almost hurt look that passed over his face.

Vincent looked at Andrew and said, "Please bring your father over here and also thanks for the hug but remember that he's your dad too."

'Oh,' Andrew thought and rushed over and said, "Sorry dad, it's a force of habit."

Horatio smiled and patted him on his back, "It's alright Andrew, I understand."

Vincent grinned, "Mr Caine, I'm not here to bring trouble for you and Andrew, I'm here to see how things are going and also Andrew, I came with that girl that helped you."

Buffy walked down and smiled, "Hey Andrew, it's good to see you again."

"Oh, umm, hi," Andrew said, "What are you doing here?"

"To stay with my dad," Buffy said, "And it looks like he isn't here yet."

Horatio coughed and held his hand out and said, "I'm Horatio Caine; Andrew's father."

Buffy looked at the both of them and nodded, "I see some resemblance, oh and I'm Buffy Summers."

"Didn't you make up with your mom?" Andrew asked, "I mean that's why you were running away."

"Oh yeah, mom and I needed some time apart from each other," Buffy said.

"Now," Vincent said with a smile, "Why don't we get some breakfast while we wait for Buffy's father?"

"That's alright," Buffy said, "I'll wait here, I want to be here when he gets here."

Vincent nodded and gave her his cell number if she needed it and they walked to the restaurant.

As they sat down Vincent smiled again, "It's good to finally meet you Mr Caine and thank you for taking Andrew in like this."

"It was no trouble and he is my son Mr Wells," Horatio said, "But now I want to talk to you about Tucker."

"He's in therapy, a colleague of mine is doing it," Vincent muttered, "And yes, I've noticed the behaviours he was showing years ago but I couldn't do a thing about it until Andrew was gone."

"You're a therapist?" Horatio asked.

Yep, that's me," Vincent said, "But because I'm Tucker's father I can't be his therapist, conflict of interest and all that."

Horatio nodded and Vincent looked at Andrew and said, "I'm so proud of you getting into those advanced courses."

Andrew smiled softly, "Thanks, dad was happy that I took them too."

They chatted a bit and Horatio observed that Andrew seemed to adore his step father and Vincent seemed to care a great deal for him.

"So Mr Wells, how long are you going to stay here?" Horatio asked curious as he picked at the bacon on his plate.

"For about week to see how Andrew is doing here," Vincent smiled, "And how you are dealing with him too. I want to make sure that you and he are happy because I did kind of spring him on you."

Horatio nodded, "Its slow going but I care for him a lot."

Andrew smiled and moved closer to Horatio and Vincent smiled, "He likes you too Mr Caine or at least he's comfortable around you."

As they left Vincent noticed Buffy embracing an older man and she waved him over, he walked over and asked, "So, is this your father?"

Hank nodded and said, "So you're the man who convinced my ex wife to let me take Buffy in?"

Vincent nodded, "I'm just here visiting my step son, making sure he's getting treated well," he looked at Buffy, "I'll see you later lil miss."

Andrew waved bye to them and he got into the SUV with Horatio and Vincent.

As they drove home Horatio told Vincent a bit more about himself, Vincent nodded and said, "Have you guys got into contact with Jim yet?"

"No, honestly I thought he would get into contact with us," Horatio said, "Didn't you tell him about Andrew moving down here?"

"No, Melody and Jim weren't close, she stayed in Las Vegas long enough for Andrew to be born and she left towards the west coast," Vincent said, "Where she met me."

"So he does know about Andrew," Horatio said to himself, "Did he ever try to get into contact with him?"

"A couple of times he sent pictures of himself and his girl," Vincent frowned, "But Melody didn't try to contact him and he even came one time to visit but Melody didn't want to talk to him and so he spent most of his time with Andrew, course that was when Andrew was four."

"We should call him then," Horatio reasoned, "He obviously cared enough about his nephew to visit him."

"I want to talk to Uncle Jim," Andrew said, "Maybe he wants to talk to me."

"Perhaps we can call him tonight Andrew," Horatio said, "You should get some sleep as you didn't get any last night."

Vincent chuckled, "He's really excitable Mr Caine, you haven't seen him on his birthday or Christmas. Melody and I had to find ways to burn off his excess energy to make sure he slept the night, he has so much energy.

Horatio looked at Andrew and wondered how he was going to survive Christmas with Andrew.

Andrew had fallen asleep and Vincent sighed a bit, "I am sorry for just sending Andrew to you like this Mr Caine, I wanted to apologize in person."

"It's alright," Horatio said with smile, "I have a son and I do care for him now."

"Not coming to take him away," Vincent murmured, "I just wanted to make sure he was happy here and it appears that his is happy here."

"And that girl," Horatio asked, "Who is she?"

"Oh, the lil miss?" Vincent said, "We met on the day I sent Andrew here, there was some trouble and her mom kicked her out. There was some trouble that she was accused of but the charges were dropped when they found out that they had no evidence."

Horatio looked curious at Andrew and grew a bit concerned, "Is she dangerous?"

"Nah, she's not dangerous Mr Caine, the police in our town are idiots sometimes and they accused her on conjecture," Vincent said, "But, of course, no offence to you."

As they got home Horatio made Andrew go to bed so he could talk to Vincent more about Andrew growing up alone.

"Yeah, Andrew was a beautiful kid growing up," Vincent said, "Usually happy, though after Melody died he changed too; he was more withdrawn but having your mom die like that it does affect you and I'd have been worried if he didn't become withdrawn and moody."

Horatio nodded and told Vincent about his own childhood and Vincent shook his head, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"You have any other kids?" Vincent asked with a smile, "I only have Tucker."

"No, as far as I know Andrew is my only son," Horatio frowned, "But it makes me wonder if I shouldn't check for more."

"Yeah, Tucker's mom left me when Tucker was four," Vincent sighed, "She said I wasn't a good enough man for her."

Horatio shook his head, "Sorry to hear that and she left you alone with Tucker?"

"Yeah, Melody and Andrew came into our lives a year later and we were married soon after," Vincent said, "It was a good life for us all, Andrew and Tucker at the time liked each other enough and they fought like brothers should fight."

"What made Tucker start to dislike Andrew?" Horatio asked puzzled.

"Don't know but it started after Andrew hit his own teens, perhaps he finally figured out Andrew didn't look like anyone else in our family," Vincent said shrugging.

Andrew came down and said, "I've slept, so what's going on today?"

"Hmm," Horatio said to him, "I don't have work today, what do you want to do?"

Andrew shrugged, cuddled close to Horatio and said, "Don't know."

"I do have to meet Buffy and her father today," Vincent said, "He wants to know what happened in Sunnydale and I'm going to tell him what I know. Do you want to come along with me Andrew? Buffy needs some friends around her own age."

"I guess, if dad says it's alright?" Andrew muttered.

'If I can come with you,' Horatio said to himself, "It's alright, I want to know this girl's family if she is going to be your friend." 

TBC 

A/N: Buffy and Andrew will be at the same school, How will Buffy's first week in Miami will be like? I don't know who to pair off with Buffy or Andrew so any ideas are welcome. Not sure if Speedle is alive during this time but would he be a good pairing for Buffy? Do you want any of the other Scoobies to appear in Miami? Do you want Angel to appear in Miami or Sunnydale? Keep in mind that he will not be paired up with Buffy. 

Please rate and review.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters. 

Chapter 5 

The week passed too quickly for Vincent's liking as he wanted to stay here for a bit longer and get to know Horatio longer but he had to help Tucker too, he wasn't going to fail Tucker either.

As he got on the airplane Andrew gave him a hug and said, "Are you gonna come down again?"

"Not sure," Vincent said, "I'm going to help the school as they need a new counsellor there and I'll there for a bit until they get their new one but you can call me whenever you want Andrew, alright? Besides you got a fine father here and you got a good life here."

Andrew nodded and walked back to Horatio's side, Horatio walked over and said, "Mr Wells, thank you for sending Andrew to me."

Vincent grinned, "He's your boy and besides, you seem to be a decent man, he's better off with you than me."

Horatio nodded and Andrew waved bye to him, Vincent smiled and waved good bye too.

A couple of weeks later Andrew was going to school with Buffy and he was happy that they were in the same district.

Buffy was telling about what she and her dad did on the weekend, "Yeah," she said, "It's totally awesome to be with dad again, he's changed so much from when he lived in LA; he's more caring."

"Are you getting along with his new wife?" Andrew asked as he opened his backpack to get some of his books out for his next class.

"Marlene is great," Buffy said, "What about you and Horatio? How are you two getting along?"

"Dad's great, he's busy but he's great," Andrew said with a smile.

"Yeah, Horatio's a cool guy," Buffy smiled, "And he's so nice to you."

"Hey," Andrew said, "I'm going to Las Vegas to visit my Uncle, dad said if you wanted to come with me you can."

Buffy grinned, "Las Vegas? I'm so there. But I do have to ask my dad for permission but seeing on how I'm going with you and your dad I'm sure he'll let me come with you."

Andrew smiled and suddenly stopped, "You still talk with your friends in Sunnydale?"

"Yeah," Buffy said, "I did and they keep asking me when I'm going to come back."

"Are you going to go back one day?" Andrew asked, "I mean it's cool if you do want to that is."

"Not sure, I do miss mom," Buffy smiled, "But your other dad is right, we needed this time apart. But now what about you, are going to go back to Sunnydale?"

"No," Andrew said with a certainty, "Well, not never, I might go to visit dad but that's it, that town doesn't hold anything for me anymore."

Later that day Andrew saw his dad drive in and ran over, "Hey dad," he yelled, "How was your day today?"

"Good," Horatio said, "And yours Andrew?"

Andrew shrugged, "It was alright, I told Buffy that we were heading to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks."

"Ah," Horatio smiled slightly as Andrew chatted endlessly about the trip, he remembered what Vincent said; he could be a ball of energy at times.

Buffy walked home relaxing in the sunlight, this place was beautiful; liquid sunlight was everywhere and it felt safe, ironically for her, from the darkness in Sunnydale. She grinned as she walked into her home and smiled at Marlene making supper, "Umm, hi Marlene."

Marlene smiled, "Hey Buffy, how was school today? Make any new friends?"

"A couple but of course I usually hang out with Andrew, he's from Sunnydale too and we have some stuff to talk about."

Marlene nodded, "Oh and by the way your friend Xander called from Sunnydale and so did Willow and your mom."

Buffy smiled a bit and walked over to the phone and said, "Sorry about my friends, we were pretty close at times."

She nodded, "Just tell them not to call all the time and wash your hands, it's almost time for dinner."

"Okay, just calling mom first," and Buffy dialled her mom up and said, "Hi mom, what's up?"

Buffy listened to her mom talk fondly of what was going on in Sunnydale, how Mr Giles came by every now and then to visit her and make sure she was fine and he was training the Scoobies hard, he was making sure they knew how to fight.

After dinner Buffy looked at her dad and said, "Umm dad, Andrew and his dad are heading Las Vegas in a couple of days and Andrew invited me, so I was wondering if I could go with him? It's for a week and there is a holiday."

Hank smiled, "Yeah I like Andrew, he's a good boy and Mr Caine wouldn't let anything bad happen to you, would he?"

"No, I doubt he would," Buffy smiled and decided that she would tell Andrew about it tomorrow at school.

As she was resting on her bed she heard the phone ring.

She picked up and said, "Hi Xander, what's up?"

"Just, um, wondering how are things in Miami Buff?" Xander said over the phone, "Umm, making new friends and stuff and how did you know it was me?"

"Umm, you always call at this time and its going good," Buffy smiled, "And yes, I'm meeting new people and friends and I heard that you guys are getting put through the ringer by Giles's training?"

"Umm yeah," Xander coughed, "He's strict, he put me on a diet and it's strict, he even got Snyder to stop serving me Jell-o and also he trains me and Oz constantly; we spar then we go on patrol."

"Oh," Buffy frowned, "How are the vamp attacks going anyways?"

"We stop most of them," Xander said, "But its hard doing this night after night, you know?"

"Umm, yeah, I have an idea of how hard it is Xander, I used to do it all the time too," Buffy said.

"Yeah, it's hard," Xander said, "And I hope you come back soon," and hung up.

Buffy hung up and sighed as she started her homework; it seemed that they were at least going to being helped out by Giles.

The next day she saw Andrew and said, "If you still want me to come along, dad said it was alright."

"Cool," Andrew said, "Apparently Uncle Jim's a cop like dad and he's been wanting to see me for a long time."

"Wow," Buffy smiled, "Law enforcement on both sides of the tree? Are you going to follow the family tradition?"

Andrew froze and thought, 'Not sure, could I do that? I mean I guess it's in the blood to be a cop: dad's a cop, Uncle Jim's a cop. Should I be a CSI worker like dad?'

"Whoa!" Buffy said, "Sorry, don't space out on me. It's just a suggestion and not one you have to take."

Andrew giggled a bit and said, "Jonathon told me about what career you were suitable for and it's a cop too, so what about you? Would you become a cop?"

Buffy shook her head, "No, not sure if being a police officer is for me and if you remember that Jonathon nearly got shot, if I remember correctly."

"He didn't mind," Andrew said with a giggle, "He likes you and that was the closest he's gotten to you."

"Really? Jonathon likes me?" Buffy said with a smile, "Cool, he's a good guy; I hope he finds someone he can love in Sunnydale."

"Not bloody likely," Andrew snarled, "We both got picked on, Jonathon was picked on just as badly as I was."

Buffy sighed, "I should've done more to stop that, I mean I could've, you know?"

"Snyder did his best," Andrew smiled, "He always treated me and Jonathon with kindness."

"The same one that harassed me and my friends?" Buffy said with a blank look on her face, "That Snyder?"

"Yeah," Andrew said, "Well, yeah, we knew he could be a mean guy but he had no tolerance for bullies, ever. That's why he looked out for us, he didn't go into details but I think something bad happened to him once."

Buffy looked horrified, "Maybe that's why he seems to hate kids."

"But anyways," Andrew said, "Dad said if you want to come with us we'll be there in the morning."

"Yeah," Buffy smiled again and said, "Have you talked to Jonathon and your friends?"

Andrew nodded, "Through email and phone calls, dad never minds as long as I'm quick but Jonathon emails me ever couple of days."

That night Andrew was planning his trip with his dad, he hadn't been to Las Vegas and he only remembered a bit about Uncle Jim; he seemed nice, but like dad said, he was only there for a bit.

"Dad," Andrew said, "Did you ever meet Uncle Jim?"

"No," Horatio said, "But I do know of him; a couple of years ago we had a little girl who was kidnapped in Las Vegas and her kidnapper brought her here and she escaped, so some people from the lab there came here to help locate the man who killed her mom and her father."

Andrew winced, "Why did the guy kidnap a little girl?"

"Not sure," Horatio said with a frown, "But I and the people from our lab and the Las Vegas people caught him."

"Good," Andrew said as he finished his homework, "Don't like it when bad guys get away."

Horatio nodded, "I don't either and also ask Buffy if she and her parents would come over for dinner? Yelina and Ray Jr. will be there too."

"Alright, I'll ask her tomorrow dad," Andrew smiled as he put his books away, "But anyways; I'm going to call Uncle Jim. He wanted to talk to me about some stuff."

Horatio nodded and watched Andrew go to phone and talk to Jim. 

TBC 

How should Andrew and Buffy's trip to Las Vegas go? And what do you think of the Scoobies being trained to fight evil as a group without the Slayer by Giles? Faith will be coming so Miami or Sunnydale. 

Please rate and review.


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters. 

Chapter 6 

A couple of weeks later Andrew was packing his clothes and his dad had borrowed a bunch of movies to help him burn his energy off, Andrew wasn't sure it was going to work as Vincent and mom chased him around trying to make him burn his energy off."

As they got onto the plane for Las Vegas Andrew was getting excited about it as he is going to see Uncle Jim for the first time in years, even though he didn't remember the last time.

Buffy looked at Horatio and said, "Mr Caine, did he get to sleep last night? He looks kind of hyper."

"I tried to take Vincent's advice but it didn't work," Horatio sighed with some frustration, "He seems to have a near infinite amount of energy when he's excited, next time he's going for a nice long jog with me."

Andrew fell asleep on the plane and Buffy sighed as they both slept next to her and thought, 'Wow, infinite amounts of energy? Glad I'm not the one trying to burn it off.'

As the plane left Buffy thought about what she had discussed with Andrew a couple of weeks ago; about him being a CSI, it did seem to be in his blood and him following in his father's footsteps? It was a cool idea; she knew she couldn't follow in her mom's footsteps as an art gallery manager or dad's footsteps as a lawyer.

She thought about her future as they travelled, Andrew snored comfortably and Buffy thought about asking her dad for advice, she was going to ask Giles too.

An hour later Andrew woke up yawning, "Sorry Buffy, didn't mean to leave you alone, didn't get much sleep last night."

"Yeah, you kept Mr Caine up all night Andrew," Buffy laughed, "It's a good thing he doesn't have work today."

Andrew nodded, "Yeah, I'm excitable. It's a bit of pain sometimes; if I get really excited I can't sleep at all. My standing record is two days."

"No way," Buffy said, "What brought that up?"

"It was Christmas," Andrew said, "And it had been hinted that my mom had gotten me a game system that I had wanted and I was getting really excited. Vincent and mom had done everything to burn my energy away and it hadn't worked and that thing about warm milk? I drank five cups of that."

"Crap," Buffy laughed, "How long did you sleep after that?"

"Umm, a long time," Andrew smiled, "About twelve hours, mom couldn't even wake me up."

"Better not tell your dad about that," Buffy said with a smile, "He might just take you for a nice long run."

"Yeah, I don't want to horrify dad just yet," Andrew said, "I mean it's been a great couple of months for dad."

"So, about you eventually becoming a CSI? Do you think you'd do it?" Buffy asked, "I mean it's in your blood."

Andrew shrugged, "It looks interesting, but don't tell dad this ever, if that happens I wouldn't be working with him like ever."

Buffy looked at him almost shocked, "Why? He's your dad, why wouldn't you want to work with him?"

"Umm this, he's my dad is the reason; how'd I know if he's shielding me from the worst of the job? And if I got a promotion, would it be on my own merits or because dad put in a good word for me?"

"Ohh, never thought about it like that," Buffy sighed, "I guess it'd be hard for you to work with your dad."

Andrew nodded and smiled softly, "And besides I don't want him in that position, he's my dad."

"Yeah, maybe you should tell him if you decide to go in that field," Buffy smiled and looked at Horatio who was still sleeping. "Jeez Andrew, what did you do to him?" Buffy asked, "He told me that he tried to burn your energy out."

"Umm, he borrowed a bunch of movies for me to watch and had me watch them all night," Andrew giggled, "And he stayed up to make sure I fell asleep."

"Burning energy isn't that hard, is it?" Buffy said puzzled.

"Like I said, excitable; I got a lot of energy and I still haven't found a good way to burn it off," Andrew laughed.

"Well I'm sure we could figure out a way for you to burn energy Andrew," Buffy said.

"I've been thinking of asking dad for a dog, we had one Sunnydale and mom made me and Tucker take care of it," Andrew said, "She said it'd build character."

"Hey, that could work," Buffy smiled, "Marlene's been talking about getting a pet but she's been thinking of a cat though."

Andrew smiled, "I like cats but Tucker was allergic, not badly though, I got to take care of Jonathon's kitten last year and he sneezed so much because the kitten kept rubbing his nose.

Buffy laughed, "I love cats and Marlene and me we're going to the SPCA to check out their cats when I get back."

They chatted for a bit and watched the movie that was showing on the plane until Andrew poked Horatio and said, "Dad, we're coming into the airport."

Horatio woke up and said, "Andrew, we aren't getting there for several hours."

"Umm," Buffy smiled, "We're here because they said we're here and also you've been asleep for the whole trip."

"Yes, I believe you," Horatio groaned, "Andrew kept me up for the whole night," and Andrew looked down and Horatio shook his head and said, "I had a good time."

As they got ready Buffy looked down and said, "The desert is lovely, I bet there's nothing more beautiful than the desert," and shook her head, "Other than the beach."

Andrew nodded, "I can't swim, and it's awful because Sunnydale has a beach and so does Miami."

Buffy grinned, "I'll teach you how to swim if you want?"

Andrew shrugged, "I might take you up on that offer sometime, if it's still valid."

She nodded as they got off the plane; Andrew looked around for his uncle who said he'd meet them there. Andrew looked at Horatio and said, "Dad, do you know what he looks like?"

Jim walked over to the small group and he recognized Horatio from Catherine's description, he walked over and said, "Detective Caine?"

Horatio nodded and said, "Hello, it's good to meet you Captain Brass."

Andrew wondered if they were just being polite by calling each other those names and thought it was a bit odd but it must be their version of being polite.

Jim looked at Andrew and said, "Hey, you've grown up since I've seen you."

Andrew nodded and said, "How old was I the last time you saw me?"

"You were four," Jim chuckled, "And you hid from me half the time."

"Oh, umm, sorry," Andrew muttered, "I'm sometimes shy around strangers."

Jim laughed, "Yeah, you know you're still bigger than you were when you were born and yeah I had to be here for you when you was born, even got pictures of you just afterwards."

Andrew looked up and said, "Really? I thought she had brought all of the pictures with her to Sunnydale?"

"Yeah, Melody didn't know about the pictures I took of you when you're little," Jim said, "And she didn't tell me that your father was another cop, I'd have informed him if I knew."

"We'll get our suitcases," Andrew said, "And we can meet you in the front I guess."

Jim nodded and walked to the entrance while they got their suitcases, he shook his head, he should've tried to get Melody to give more information.

As they followed him out Andrew looked at Las Vegas and muttered, "It's bright, isn't it Buffy?"

"Yeah, it is," she replied, "But I like it, we're just going to avoid the casinos, dad told me a bunch of horror stories about them."

"Your father is smart," Jim frowned, "Some of the officers who work here sometimes get into trouble with gambling."

They drove along and Andrew listened to Horatio and Jim talk about things, about very old cases and the one where they sent some of their team to Miami to help catch that guy.,

Jim nodded, "Yeah, Catherine speaks very highly of your team down there."

"She and Mr Brown were a great deal of help when they came down," Horatio nodded, "And how are they doing lately?"

"They're fine," he suddenly looked at Buffy, "Sorry ma'am, didn't introduce myself; I'm Jim Brass and you are?"

"Buffy Summers, I'm one of Andrew's friends, we met in Sunnydale and I moved to Miami."

Jim nodded, "Well welcome to Las Vegas, it's nice to meet you."

"Same," Buffy said with a large smile, "So where are we going first?"

"I gotta pick up some stuff from work first," Jim said, "You guys can wait in the car or in the lobby?"

"Lobby," Andrew said, "I've been in a plane for several hours so I don't mind waiting in a lobby."

"Yeah," Buffy said, "I gotta stretch my legs out too, if that's alright with you Mr Brass?"

He nodded as they stopped; Andrew got out and stretched out as they walked into the lobby. Andrew noted it looked different from the one in Miami but it still looked cool, he decided that he would ask his dad about his idea about going into forensics.

Buffy looked around and thought, 'Well, blue seems to be the prominent colour here,' as she looked at some of the cold blue-white lights.

As they waited with for Uncle Jim a blonde woman came up and said, "Detective Caine? What brings you up here? I don't think there are any Miami cases here."

"Ah, hello Ms Willows," Horatio said, "This isn't business, it's a vacation; I'm bring my son up here to meet his Uncle," as he pointed at Andrew.

Andrew waved hello to her while he sat staring at the people coming and going into the lab.

Catherine smiled, "Hi, welcome to Vegas, is this your first time here?"

"No, I was born here apparently, Andrew said, "But I moved to Sunnydale soon afterwards."

"Ooh, I've heard stories about Sunnydale," Catherine muttered as she shook her head.

"All good stories I'm sure?" Buffy said laughing as Andrew started to laugh with her.

Catherine shook her head and said, "So, who's your Uncle?"

"Umm, Jim Brass," Andrew said, "We didn't see each other that much when I was in Sunnydale."

"Alright," Catherine said, "But wouldn't your father want to be in contact with Jim? He's a great guy if you stay on his good side."

Andrew nodded as Jim came back out and said, "Alright kids I'm free for a week, and we'll decide what to do tomorrow as you all gotta be tired."

Catherine whispered something into Jim's ear and he nodded, "Sure, if I need help to plan where we can go we'll tell you." 

TBC 

A/N: What should Buffy and Andrew do while in Las Vegas? Faith will be going to Miami next chapter. 

Please rate and review


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters. 

Chapter 7 

Andrew walked with Buffy looking around the sights in Las Vegas, they were allowed to go to the shows and not much else but Andrew didn't mind though as gambling didn't hold much interest for him/

As they looked around Buffy sighed, "Andrew, do you want to head back to your Uncle Jim's place? It's getting late."

"Yeah, it's getting dark," Andrew nodded and they called a cab to go back to Uncle Jim's place.

As they waited for the cab Buffy looked at Andrew and said, "Why do you still go by Wells? I mean you aren't related to any of the Wells family biologically, right?"

Andrew looked thoughtful and thought, 'Andrew Caine? Is that a good last name? It is dad's name and I'm not related biologically to the Wells family,' he looked at her and said, "Do you think he'd want me to?"

"Yeah, probably," Buffy said, "Because he cares about you and probably wants his name to continue through you, right? But let's talk about this later, here comes the cab," and pulled Andrew up.

They got back and saw Horatio watching some TV; he looked up and said, "What did you guys do today?"

"It's really boring here," Andrew muttered, "If you aren't the legal age," and sat next to him and started to watch TV with Horatio.

"Were you two planning on gambling or doing other things?" Horatio asked with a bit of humour in his voice.

"Oh yeah," Buffy said, "We're rebels," and laughed a bit.

"Where's Uncle Jim?" Andrew asked looking around.

"He's in the back," Horatio said, "He's thinking about barbequing some hamburgers tonight, if you guys want that?"

Buffy nodded, "Sounds good to me, I like barbeque."

"Yeah, me too," Andrew nodded, "Just no pickles please as I can't stand them."

Horatio nodded, "Alright Andrew," and walked over to Jim and said, "It looks like they're all for it."

"Good," Jim said, "Hope they don't mind that Gil is coming over too?"

"Oh?" Horatio said, "Ms Willows has good things to say about him, I've never met him though."

"Yeah, he's a good investigator though," Jim shook his head, "He isn't popular with the police because he doesn't stand down if he thinks they are at fault."

"It's good to stand by your principals," Horatio said as he looked in and saw Andrew watching TV with Buffy, he decided that now would be the time to ask, "So what do you think of Andrew?"

Jim looked at Andrew and said, "He's a good kid; Vincent helped raise him right. Why? What's wrong?"

Horatio looked at Jim and said, "It's like this; I always have this feeling that when Andrew leaves for school he might just stay away."

"Kids leave," Jim said, "And you still got several years with Andrew. I mean Miami has some universities there, right? So he decides to go to school there and he'll probably stay at home, it's better than staying at the dorms."

"Yeah, it's hard," Horatio said, "I've missed so much of his life."

Buffy heard Horatio's talk with Jim and sighed, "Andrew, do you like Horatio being your father?"

Andrew nodded, "I love having him as my dad; he's nice, he's doing his best to help me and he has some nice co workers, I've met a couple of them."

"Umm," Buffy said, "Did you ever tell him that you love him Andrew? I mean he might like hearing that."

"Alright," Andrew nodded, "I guess I do love him. He's my dad after all, right?"

"Then tell him tonight Andrew," Buffy smiled, "He's still not sure how you feel about him."

Andrew nodded and waited patiently for his dad to finish talking to Uncle Jim and when Horatio came in he dashed upstairs.

Horatio looked at where Andrew rose curiously and Buffy told him that Andrew wanted to talk to him.

Andrew waited patiently for Horatio to come up, 'I do love my father, even when he didn't think I was his son,' Andrew thought, 'He treated me so nicely,' and when Horatio knocked softly on the door Andrew gulped and said, "Hi dad,"

"You wanted to talk to me?" Horatio asked.

Andrew ran over and hugged Horatio tightly and said, "I love you dad."

Horatio looked down at his son hugging him and hugged back, he whispered, "I love you too son."

"Buffy said that you weren't sure about how I felt about you," Andrew said softly, "And I wanted to tell you that."

They sat down on the bed and Andrew managed to untangle himself from his dad and Horatio rubbed his head, saying, "You're a good boy Andrew, I'm proud of you."

"Umm, dad, I was thinking of getting into forensics like you when I get out of school," Andrew said almost hesitantly.

Horatio looked at him and smiled, "Really? You want to be like me?"

Andrew nodded and Horatio hugged him back, saying, "That could work."

At that moment Jim called them down for dinner, Andrew came down and saw a gray haired man talking to Buffy, he looked up and said, "Hi, I'm Gil Grissom, I'm a friend of your Uncle."

Horatio nodded and introduced himself to Gil, who looked up at the name and said, "From Miami?" Horatio nodded and Gil looked at Horatio again and said, "Catherine spoke very highly of you."

"Ms Willows spoke of you highly as well," Horatio said as he sat down.

Andrew listened to them talk about various techniques eagerly, he wanted to learn and he felt that the best thing to do was learn people who where smarter than him and listen quietly.

Buffy looked a bit interested in the conversation too but mostly she kept thinking about what her career aptitude tests said about her being suitable for being a cop, she'd ask Horatio about it later and see what she needed to do, it'd be cool to protect people from other people instead of just vampires and demons.

They chatted while eating the burgers; Gil was talking to Andrew about entomology and how he used insects to help him solve crimes, how some insects could be used to find out when someone died.

Andrew winced a bit as he heard the descriptions of what some bugs did to the body and he decided he didn't want to go out on the field and see the dead body but he supposed he'd have to get used to it.

After dinner Gil and Jim had to leave for work and Andrew was tired after the day of walking down the Strip and the heat here was horrible on him thanks to the desert.

Horatio saw Andrew getting ready for bed, he walked up and said, "Andrew, are you serious about wanting to follow in what I'm doing?"

"Being a tech? Yeah, not sure about being a cop," Andrew said, "I think."

'Thank you god,' Horatio thought, Andrew didn't want to become a cop, he had a very unsettling image of a cop informing him that Andrew had been shot, the Lab Techs was a usually safe job.

Andrew yawned and went to bed and said, "Sorry dad, tired now. I walked too much today and it was hot."

Horatio nodded and patted Andrew on the shoulder, as he left he saw Buffy flipping through the channels and asked her, "So, did Andrew tell you his wish to become a CSI?"

She nodded and said, "But don't worry, Andrew told me he wouldn't work with you because of the conflict of interest thing, you being his father and all."

"What? He wouldn't want to work for me?" Horatio said, "Though I do understand his opinion; if he worked with me I wouldn't want him to get hurt, I'd probably keep him safe and in the lab."

"Yeah and he wouldn't know if he got that promotion because you were his dad or because he earned it," Buffy said, "Which, probably means, you know."

"Means," Horatio continued, "He wouldn't want to work in Miami."

Buffy winced, "Oh god, he's what? Fifteen?" Horatio nodded and she sighed, "You only get him for so long, it must be hard?"

"It is," Horatio said, "But he has to grow, right? And to be his own man in his own city."

"You know," Buffy said, "He might be asking you to consider letting him change his last name to Caine soon."

"Really?" Horatio said, "What brought that up?"

"Well, he's not related to the Wells," Buffy said, "And besides, why shouldn't he change his last name to yours? You're his dad, right?"

"I'll talk to him about it later," Horatio smiled at the thought of Andrew Caine.

"Now," Buffy said, "I was going to ask you what I need to become a cop. My career tests said I'd be best suited as a police officer."

Horatio looked surprised and said, "Being a cop isn't easy: people will throw stuff at you or shoot at you and you could end up dead in an alley or be forty years old and alone."

"I'm still considering it," Buffy said with a smile, "Can you tell me what I need to do?"

"When we get back to Miami Buffy," Horatio said, "I'll see if one of the officers can take you on a ride along to help you find out what the life is, like I'm probably going to take Andrew to the lab to see if he really wants to learn how we do our job in the lab."

TBC 

A/N: I know I promise that Faith was going to be in this chapter but she will be in the next one where they will deal with Faith's 'problem.' It's up to you if the Caine's get involved. Should Andrew change his last name to Caine? 

Please rate and review.


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